The ultraportable iPad mini is more capable and versatile than ever with the powerful A17 Pro chip and support for Apple Pencil Pro
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today introduced the new iPad mini, supercharged by the A17 Pro chip and Apple Intelligence, the easy-to-use personal intelligence system that understands personal context to deliver intelligence that is helpful and relevant while protecting user privacy. With a beloved ultraportable design, the new iPad mini is available in four finishes, including a new blue and purple, and features the brilliant 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display. A17 Pro delivers a huge performance boost for even the most demanding tasks, with a faster CPU and GPU, a 2x faster Neural Engine than the previous-generation iPad mini, and support for Apple Intelligence. The versatility and advanced capabilities of the new iPad mini are taken to a whole new level with support for Apple Pencil Pro, opening up entirely new ways to be even more productive and creative. The 12MP wide back camera supports Smart HDR 4 for natural-looking photos with increased dynamic range and uses machine learning to detect and scan documents right in the Camera app.
The new iPad mini features all-day battery life and brand-new experiences with iPadOS 18. Starting at just $499 with 128GB—double the storage of the previous generation—the new iPad mini delivers incredible value and the full iPad experience in an ultraportable design. Customers can pre-order the new iPad mini today, and it will be available beginning Wednesday, October 23.
“There is no other device in the world like the iPad mini, beloved for its combination of powerful performance and versatility in our most ultraportable design. iPad mini appeals to a wide range of users and has been built for Apple Intelligence, delivering intelligent new features that are powerful, personal, and private,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With the powerful A17 Pro chip, faster connectivity, and support for Apple Pencil Pro, the new iPad mini delivers the full iPad experience in our most portable design at an incredible value.”
Pricing and Availability
Customers can pre-order the new iPad mini starting today, October 15, on apple.com/store and in the Apple Store app in 29 countries and regions, including the U.S. It will begin arriving to customers and will be in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers, starting Wednesday, October 23.
- Available in blue, purple, starlight, and space gray, the new iPad mini starts at $499 (U.S.) for the Wi-Fi model and $649 (U.S.) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
- The new iPad mini starts with 128GB of storage—double the storage of the previous generation. It is also available in 256GB and 512GB configurations.
- For education, the new iPad mini starts at $449 (U.S.). Education pricing is available to current and newly accepted college students and their parents, as well as faculty, staff, and home-school teachers of all grade levels. For more information, visit apple.com/us-hed/shop.
- Apple Pencil Pro is compatible with the new iPad mini. It is available for $129 (U.S.) and $119 (U.S.) for education.
- Apple Pencil (USB-C) is available for $79 (U.S.) and $69 (U.S.) for education.
- The new Smart Folio, available in charcoal gray, light violet, denim, and sage, is $59 (U.S.).
A17 Pro Unlocks Powerful Performance
The new iPad mini gets a significant update with A17 Pro, delivering incredible performance and power efficiency in an ultraportable design. A17 Pro is a powerful chip that unlocks many improvements over the A15 Bionic in the previous-generation iPad mini. With a 6-core CPU — two performance cores and four efficiency cores — A17 Pro delivers a 30 percent boost in CPU performance.1 A17 Pro also boosts graphics performance with a 5-core GPU, delivering a 25 percent jump over the previous generation.1 A17 Pro brings entirely new experiences — including pro apps used by designers, pilots, doctors, and others — and makes it faster than ever for users to edit photos, dive into more immersive AR applications, and more. The new iPad mini brings true-to-life gaming with hardware-accelerated ray tracing — 4x faster than software-based ray tracing — as well as support for Dynamic Caching and hardware-accelerated mesh shading. From creating engaging content faster than ever in Affinity Designer to playing demanding, graphics-intensive AAA games like Zenless Zone Zero, users can take the powerful performance and ultraportable iPad mini anywhere.
Built for Apple Intelligence
With the power of the A17 Pro chip, the new iPad mini delivers support for Apple Intelligence. Deeply integrated into iPadOS 18, Apple Intelligence harnesses the power of Apple silicon and Apple-built generative models to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks. Many models that power Apple Intelligence run entirely on device, and Private Cloud Compute offers the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers.
The first set of Apple Intelligence features will be available in U.S. English this month through a free software update with iPadOS 18.1, and it will be available for iPads with A17 Pro or M1 and later. Apple Intelligence delivers delightful, intuitive, easy-to-use experiences specially designed to help users do the things that matter most to them.
Faster Connectivity
With faster wireless and wired connectivity, users can do even more on iPad mini while on the go. The new iPad mini supports Wi-Fi 6E, which delivers up to twice the performance of the previous generation, so users can download files, play games online, and stream movies even faster. Wi-Fi + Cellular models with 5G allow users to access their files, communicate with peers, and back up their data in a snap while on the go. Cellular models of the new iPad mini are activated with eSIM, a more secure alternative to a physical SIM card, allowing users to quickly connect and transfer their existing plans digitally and store multiple cellular plans on a single device. Customers can easily connect to wireless data plans on the new iPad mini in over 190 countries and regions worldwide without needing a physical SIM card from a local carrier. The USB-C port is now up to 2x faster than the previous generation, with data transfers up to 10Gbps, so importing large photos and videos is even quicker.
Improved Camera Experience
Great cameras, along with the incredibly portable form factor of the iPad mini, enable powerful mobile workflows. The 12MP wide back camera delivers gorgeous photos; with Smart HDR 4, they will be even more detailed and vivid. Utilizing the powerful 16-core Neural Engine, the new iPad mini uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify documents right in the Camera app automatically and can use the new True Tone flash to remove shadows from the document. The 12MP Ultra Wide front-facing camera in portrait orientation, with support for Center Stage, is great for all iPad mini owners.
Enhanced Capabilities with Apple Pencil Pro
Apple Pencil Pro unlocks magical capabilities and powerful interactions, turning the iPad mini into a sketchbook users can take anywhere. Apple Pencil Pro can sense a user’s squeeze, bringing up a tool palette to quickly switch tools, line weights, and colors, all without interrupting the creative process. A custom haptic engine delivers a light tap that provides confirmation when users squeeze, double-tap, or snap to a Smart Shape for a remarkably intuitive experience. Users can roll Apple Pencil Pro for precise control of the tool they’re using. Rotating the barrel changes the orientation of shaped pen and brush tools, just like pen and paper, and with Apple Pencil hover, users can visualize the exact orientation of a tool before making a mark. Apple Pencil Pro features support for Find My, and pairs, charges, and is stored through a new magnetic interface on the new iPad mini. iPad mini also supports Apple Pencil (USB-C), which is ideal for note taking, sketching, annotating, journaling, and more, at a great value.
Better for the Environment
The new iPad mini is designed with the environment in mind, including 100 percent recycled aluminum in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, and 100 percent recycled gold plating and tin soldering in multiple printed circuit boards. It meets Apple’s high standards for energy efficiency and is free of mercury, brominated flame retardants, and PVC. The packaging is 100 percent fiber-based, bringing Apple closer to its goal of removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.
Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations and, as part of its ambitious Apple 2030 goal, plans to be carbon neutral across its entire carbon footprint by the end of this decade.
